Hiking Adventures at Ha Ha Tonka State Park: The Ultimate How to Guide.

I once saw a picture of the incredible ruins at Ha Ha Tonka State Park and thought “Oh wow! I should go there one day!”

One day. Life always gets in the way of “one day.” But I’ve made a commitment to myself to stop waiting for “one day.”

I’m going to start visiting all of the places on my “one day” list.

A few days ago, the picture of Ha Ha Tonka came across my phone screen again, and instead of saying “one day,” I said “next weekend”!

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The plan is to fully explore Ha Ha Tonka in one day. To make the most of this day, I will fully research and plan to make full use of every minute I have.

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Prep For Ha Ha Tonka

The 2 things I check first: It will be a 3.5-hour drive one way, and the weather will be good in that city on that day: overcast, high of 81 (excellent for mid-July!).

At a glance, the top things I want to see- the Ha Ha Tonka castle ruins, Ha Ha Tonka Natural Bridge, Ha Ha Tonka Springs, and a 316-step wood staircase.

There are 13 criss-crossing trails totaling a reported 15+ hiking miles. So I will need to research and plan to not waste any time getting lost or backtracking (as little as possible).

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Ha Ha Tonka Hiking Trails

Click on the trail name for the full information sheet.

• Acorn Trail (.9 miles / blazed green) is a self-guiding interpretive trail that leads hikers through an open woodland and glade complex.
• Boulder Ridge Trail (1.5 miles / blazed red) is an old gravel road that travels by lichen-covered boulders with views of Lake of the Ozarks.
• Castle Trail (.4 miles / blazed yellow) is one of the park’s most popular trails that accesses the ruins of a 20th-century castle and offers spectacular views of Lake of the Ozarks. The trail is accessed from two parking lots. The upper lot has limited parking and is recommended for people with disabilities and the elderly. The lower lot has more parking spaces available with a short, shaded hike to the castle.
• Cedar Trail (.2 miles / blazed blue) is a short interpretive loop around the Post Office day-use area with native tree identification markers.
• Colosseum Trail (.6 miles / blazed yellow) is a figure 8 loop around the Ha Ha Tonka Natural Bridge and Colosseum Sinkhole. It shares the trail with portions of Devil’s Kitchen, Dell Rim, and Spring trails.
• Dell Rim Trail (.3 miles / blazed red) The first .07 miles is a boardwalk around the historic water tower before circling the 150′ deep Whispering Dell Sinkhole. The trail is part of the 316-step wooden staircase that leads to Ha Ha Tonka Spring. It shares the trail with portions of Devil’s Kitchen, Colosseum, and Spring trails.
• Devil’s Kitchen (1.3 Miles / blazed brown) This trail gives access to the Devil’s Kitchen Sinkhole and shelter cave complex. It shares the trail with portions of Dell Rim, Colosseum, and Spring trails.
• Island Trail (.4 miles / blazed Green) This trail circles a small island formed by the Ha Ha Tonka Spring Run entering Lake of the Ozarks. You’ll see karst features like the Balanced Rock Boulder and Island Cave (gated). You’ll also find the historic water pipe used to supply the castle on the bluff and have several good views of the iridescent blue Trout Glen Pool at the base of Ha Ha Tonka Springs. You can’t enter Trout Glen Pool, but you can swim in the cool spring water past the old dam as it enters Lake of the Ozarks.
• Lake Trail (.4 miles / blazed red) This trail primarily serves as a connector trail from the courtesy boat dock to the Quarry Trail and the Castle Ruins.
• Oak Woodland Trail (.1 miles / blazed blue) This short, handicapped accessible interpretive trail has panels that identify characteristic plants of the park’s Ha Ha Tonka Oak Woodland.
• Quarry Trail (1.7 miles / blazed green) This trail takes visitors past two quarry sites where sandstone was mined to build the castle, carriage house, and water tower.
• Spring Trail (1.4 miles / blazed blue) This popular loop trail has a little bit of everything. The first .4 miles along the shoreline are paved and highly accessible up to the old mill pond. Then, a .1-mile boardwalk takes you to the beautiful blue Ha Ha Tonka Spring that discharges an average of 48 million gallons of water a day. Then a 316-step wooden staircase ascends the bluff. Finally, the trail returns through the forest at the top of the cliff band. It shares the trail with portions of Dell Rim, Colosseum, and Devil’s Kitchen trails.
• Turkey Pen Hollow Trail (6.5 miles / blazed red) – The longest continuous trail in the park with spurs that access the backcountry camps. Taking the white connector that bypasses Camp B will cut two miles off the loop. This trail shares a trailhead and some distance with Acorn, Oak Woodland Interpretive, and Devil’s Kitchen trails.

The top trails I want to explore are Spring Trail, Castle Trail, and Colosseum Trail. However, I will hike as many of them as possible in the day! I want to see it ALL in one day.

I have studied the trail maps and read a few articles from other hikers’ visits, and have mapped out what I think is the best route to see all of the top sights at Ha Ha Tonka. My rough guess is that I will cover 5 miles to see all of these attractions.

I’ll pack my typical “Hiking Adventure Gear” and a few things in case I need a mid-day nap.

Packing a hiking bag is always finding the balance between what you may need and what you probably won’t.

The goal is always to pack light. To this, I also added a small container with lunch and my water bottle. What I didn’t use- the water shoes or hiking poles. What I forgot- chapstick and water flavor packets.

I have a fear of walking into the unknown or being unprepared. I feel like I’ve researched the heck out of this park, so let’s see how it lived up!

Hiking Ha Ha Tonka

Castle Trail

The drive to the Castle Trailhead was easy enough following Google Maps. I was there early, so I parked close and stopped by the restrooms (stinky porta-potty style with no running water).

I immediately began my hike and headed toward the Castle. I wanted to hit this first and early to avoid the crowds.

I was easily able to follow the paved path and signs that led to the Castle.

After spending some time circling and exploring the grounds, I backtracked a small portion to hit the Dell Rim Trail.

Dell Rim Trail

The Dell Rim Trail crossed another parking lot (handicapped) and picked up on the other side. It was an easy, declining sloped walk along a boardwalk.

Unfortunately, the water tower off-shoot trail was closed. I was able to see the water tower, but could not walk up to it as planned.

So I continued on the beautiful Dell Rim Trail.

At the bottom of this trail, there were a few options. I took a hard right on the Spring Trail to head down the wooden staircase I had read about.

Spring Trail

These steps go on, and on, and on! 316 steps. I’m thankful I read the tip to head there first so I could descend them now instead of walking them back up later at the end of the hike. That would be brutal. (But a good workout if that’s what you’re after!)

At the bottom of these steps, I came to Ha Ha Tonka Springs. I walked the trail alongside the water until I reached Island Trail.

Island Trail

Island Trail was probably my most problematic area. There are many trails crossing all over the place, with only a few blazes here and there. Many trails looked very unofficial. AllTrails helped me stay somewhat on the main trails to see much of the island.

However, I didn’t find Balanced Rock. It wasn’t high on my list and I didn’t want to search the entire hip top for it. But I did come across the cave entrance!

After looping the island, I took a quick stop at the pavilion for an early lunch before heading to the connector trail to Devil’s Kitchen.

The connecter trail is a boardwalk of steps leading straight up a fairly good incline.

On the other side of this, I crossed a road and arrived at a rest area with a parking lot, pavilion, restrooms, fountain, and bathroom. This was a good place to refill on water at the fountain, take a moment to play, and use the restroom (again, the stinky portapotty-style ones).

Devil’s Kitchen

I had some difficulty finding the right trail out of the rest area. This is the only place I backtracked a few times (even with help from Alltrails).

Near the bathrooms, there is a trail, but that is the short Cedar Trails Interpretive Loop. This trail will loop around and end at the next hiking trail I wanted (Devil’s Kitchen).

Back at the entrance of the rest area is the Devil’s Kitchen trailhead that leads into the woods and quickly comes to a Y. The trail to the right is the end of the interpretive trail (Cedar Trail). The trail to the left will take you to the Devil’s Kitchen.

This portion of the hike took me through the woods for a bit and then to the Devil’s Kitchen, which I thought was one of the more interesting areas I explored.

The trail continued around, and then up to the top of the Devil’s Kitchen area. Hiking a little further, I was treated to a beautiful field full of gorgeous wildflowers (my fav!).

Colosseum Trail

After the wildflower fields, I came to a small parking lot and a road crossing. After I crossed the road I took a right and circled around to a parking lot that is used for hiking the Figure 8 Colosseum trail. From the parking lot, the walk down to Natural Bridge was a short one.

After passing Natural Bridge, I came to the Colosseum Trail, which runs along the bottom of some tall bluffs with a massive sinkhole to the other side of the trail.

The figure 8 Colosseum trail used to loop around, allowing hikers to travel over Natural Bridge, but no longer allows any traffic on top. After I finished passing the bluffs, I stopped and backtracked to the parking lot at the beginning of the trail.

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You could continue further, but then you would have to intersect and take the Spring Trail back, which means going UP the 316 steps. After descending those bad boys, I knew I sure didn’t want to hike them back up at this point.

Back at the parking lot (for Natural Bridge), I used Alltrails to find the connector trail that led back to the Dell Rim Trail, and then easily found my way back to the car. This portion of the hike was much busier than before. The parking lot that had just a few cars at my 8 am arrival was now packed.

Final Thoughts on Hiking Ha Ha Tonka

My total mileage according to my Fitbit Sense was 5.38 miles and 3hr 27 mins (with all stops, backtracking, playing at the playground, bathroom stop, and taking tons of pics!).

I feel like this could easily be a 5-mile hike taking less than 3 hours. But I do more “meandering” and exploring versus hiking. No hurries. No worries.

Most of the trail intersections are clearly marked with signs. Some have only arrows with the appropriate color blaze. I found it very handy to have my own marked map and to know which trails had which color blazes.

This hike left me fatigued (but not exhausted). I was pleased that I had seen almost everything I wanted to. I made my way to the bathrooms for a quick wardrobe change and began my 3.5-hour journey home!

Quick Bonus Stop!

On my way home, I realized Bennett Springs was not far off my route, so I made a quick pit stop there! And then the new Springfield Buc-ee’s was calling my name and became my 3rd stop of the day.

I’ve explored so much of Arkansas, including all 52 Arkansas State Parks. I’m excited to begin my adventuring journey into the beautiful state of Missouri!

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Take a moment to visit…

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